Ex-marine kills familly, self

Bradley Stone, a veteran of the Iraq war, killed his former wife and members of her family, then himself.

Soldier Suicides

A soldier barricaded herself inside an office at Fort Lee, causing a lockdown, and then killed herself. This sad story raises at least a few questions:

Is it soldier-on-soldier murder when the soldier you kill is yourself?

Does it make a difference that the gun she shot herself with wasn't a service weapon, but was available to her through other sources?

And, the obvious one: What brought her to such a state of despair?

Once again, it's being reported as a individual problem, someone who was "upset and outraged," though it's a good bet we'll never know what she was upset about and so, never had to come to terms with what is a systemic problem.

not the crime of the century

Robert Richard, one of the Marines videoed pissing on -- excuse me, "urinating on" -- dead Afghans, has died at 28.  Young, sad. His obit made news because of that act, which I assume is not what anyone wants to be remembered for.

His lawyer called the act, "a temporary lapse of discipline" and not "the crime of the century," both of which are probably true.  And isn't that the problem? Something like that reprehensible behavior was much more common in Iraq and Afghanistan than we want to acknowledge -- and don't have to because most of it didn't end up on YouTube. Contrary to contemporary belief, that doesn't mean it didn't happen.
The dehumanization of "the enemy" is basic to war; the dehumanization of "our guys" is too. Both are tragic. The AP obit ends, "Mr. Richards will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors." Nothing more be said.

not murder, but predatory

Staff Sgt. Angel Sanchez, (clearly misnamed) stands accused of sexual assault against a dozen women soldiers over the past 3 years.  He deployed to Iraq & Afghanistan & got a Bronze Star.  I have no idea if there are any connections there.

former Army linguist convicted of murdering her kids

This isn't exactly what this site is about -- this woman didn't kill "enemy combatants" or other soldiers, but you do wonder what toll her life in the military and as a military spouse may have played.

Sgt. Anthony Peden sentenced

Soldiers at Ft. Stewart, who formed an anti-government militia group, murdered a former soldier and his girlfriend in December 2011.  Peden got life, the other three did plea bargains to avoid a potiential death penalty.

the new rotten one in the bunch

So -- I had good intentions to gather all the info available about all the "bad apples" in the U.S. military who killed Iraqis, Afghans, and each other with no apparent justification or even minimal provocation.  I was going to cross-reference it and make this the go-to site for such research.  It didn't happen.  Maybe never will.  So I'm just going to post links whenever a new incident comes to light or new developments are reported. 

Army Staff-Sergeant Michael Barbera case reexamined; preliminary hearing, with former Spc. John Lotempio as witness, at Lewis-McChord